Chondrus crispus

Chondrus crispus, herbarium sheet of Helgoland

The ( Common ) chondrus crispus ( Chondrus crispus ), also known as cartilage moss, Irish moss and Irish moss, ( irländisches ) Perlmoos or Carrag ( h) een algae or moss named, is a red algae of the North Atlantic coasts.

The plant originates from a small, fixed to the rock disc is divided up repeatedly in branches and forms a very flat or on edge frizzy wavy foliage; in the fresh state it is gelatinous, yellowish to violet-red or greenish, after drying horny, translucent, yellowish. It grows on the northern Atlantic coast to the Azores and is especially collected on the coasts of Antrim and Clare on the west and north-east coast of Ireland, Scotland and Massachusetts by the waves it drives to the shore.

In North America, it was for the production of carrageenan in Scituate, Plymouth County ( Massachusetts) cultivated and collected. An application for carrageenan moss consists in the production of marble paper as the base (so-called sizing ) for applying the colors. Further, it is part of cosmetics (for example, aftershave ).